Taming the Dark Lord

CHAPTER 50

Chapter 50 – Eerie Silence (2)

The eerie silence felt each of them with dread…

Usually, the rice fields just outside the city gate would be bombarded with various noises: peasants farming as their shovels hit the ground, wheelbarrows rolling, children laughing and running in circles and their mothers chattering away with their friends.

But all of them were nowhere in sight, and the silence was all too deafening.

“Something’s wrong.” Amelia said, pulling Rita behind her as she ordered the knights around them. “Draw your swords out and keep an eye out on your surroundings.”

Debra drew her magic wand out, putting the ritual at the back of her mind. She craned her neck left and right before walking cautiously into the city gate.

As soon as their feet set foot, someone gasped, loud enough to reach even the people at the back.

When Amelia was selected as one of the saints, she had seen a lot of corpses during her missions, and she could say that she’s used to it by now. But none of her trainings prepared her for what she’s seeing right now—

Piles and a huge number of corpses, and an ocean of blood lie in its wake. Nothing but a red, scarlet mess pooled the pavement, stretching endlessly as if it flooded the entire city.

It looked like a mass execution, like hell suddenly took place on earth.

The crowd stood still at the city gate, hands shaking wildly and their mouths wide agape at the horrifying sight. One person couldn’t stand the strong smell of iron lingering in the air, doubling over as he vomited in disgust.

Amelia’s heart was thrashing wildly, and a thrill of fear threatened to engulf her from the inside out. But even with how horrified she was, she knew that now is not the right time to panic. She clenched her wand tightly, her knuckles almost white from the effort. “Don’t be sidetracked. Go to the Church, and gather the Knights who stayed behind. Now!”

As if a bucket of ice were thrown over them, the crowd snapped out of their senses. They stepped on the pool blood, passing one corpse after other as they made their way to the Church. No one was exempted from the brutal killings, from adults, to senior citizens and even children were killed mercilessly, and all of them had a huge hole right on the chest.

Their hearts were all taken out.

What made this even more alarming was that all of them didn’t exhibit any fear nor despair, that was expected when one’s about to be killed. It seemed like they were killed before they had the chance to react, and some of them were smiling, too.

The pile of dead bodies seemed endless, covering almost every street the small town had. As the group neared the Church, they noticed that the Church was void of any life too, and a dead silence met them atop the marble stone steps.

They were shaking, trembling in fear. Amelia took a deep breath, and pushed the Church doors open.

The strong, nasty smell of blood hit their nostrils. And just like the corpses outside the city gate, there were corpses inside the Church, too; this time it was the Knights’ bodies, who were still armored in their uniforms, the religion’s symbols emblazoned on their chests.

Blood dripped down the white stairs and it smeared the Holy and Immaculate statue of God, and the scarlet red stood proudly against the stark white of the Church.

Everyone walked in slowly, and someone accidentally toed a knight’s helmet off, revealing a young, lifeless face.

Amelia glanced at the familiar face, and quickly averted her eyes. She breathed through her mouth, willing herself to calm down as she squeezed her wand.

After circling the Church’s perimeters, it seemed like no one, not even one knight, survived the bloody massacre. All the knights who stayed behind were also killed ruthlessly.

“W-who who did this..”

“Could it be that the witch did this? The one we left in the basement?” Someone said.

“That sounds unlikely..” They all looked at each other, and decided to go down to the basement to check.

The witch was still hung on the torture device, and her eyes were half-lidded just like before. The wounds were still dripping blood, and she looked like a corpse herself.

“Hey. Don’t you guys think that this feels a little too familiar?” Debra asked, folding her arms together as she continued, “Do you remember that day when the two witches escaped? Everyone passed out too, and we’re unable to recall anything. The only difference is that people actually died today.”

Rita nodded. “Now that you say it, it does seem very similar.”

Amelia bit her lips. They didn’t know that it was her who was behind the fainting spell before, and she can only make a handful of people faint at most. Her power couldn’t handle a number this large, and this town had thousands of civilians. And even if she could, she wouldn’t. Killing people was not her cup of tea.

They couldn’t stay here any longer. It was too dangerous.

“Let’s leave right this second. Leave your belongings, we all have to leave, now!”

The remaining people ran to the gate as fast as they could, no turning back as they left the bloody town behind. Red splashed against their soles, and a cool breeze went past their faces, chilling them while petals fell from the branches down to the pool of blood.

It would’ve been a lovely spring if not for the bloody river, but then the white petals turned into red, a premonition of something worse to come.

“Is everyone okay? Keep running, everyone! Run to the next town.” Amelia shouted, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she caught her breath. She turned her head around to look if Rita was close behind her. “Are you okay? Rita—“

A flash of light flashed before her eyes.

Made of very fine iron, arrows with bloodied grooves and nails on both sides penetrated Rita on her chest.

Blood blossomed on where she was penetrated.

The girl had a dazed look etched on her face, like she was unseeing as she stretched her  hand out to grab Amelia. Her body fell backward, the weight of the arrow pulling her downwards as her fingers slipped Amelia’s shoulders, landing on the ground with a heavy thud..